Pitching Planner: Week 1

by Marshall Bauer

The Pitching Planner will be a weekly column that will be run on Sundays here at Rotoprofessor. The column is a great tool, especially for those of you in head to head leagues with starts limits or those with weekly roster settings. The column will have two main features: Two Start Options and One Start Sleepers.

With the season starting on a Thursday, the plan was to do one column for the first four days and the first full week combined into one, since it appears as though that is what the major fantasy league sites will use for those in head to head leagues. Alas, the proper information needed was not out there at the time this article was written. I could have taken the rotations and just placed the starters in line, but with so many teams having off days in there, it would have been difficult to predict as many teams will skip a rotation member, and I would rather not put false or likely false information out there for you guys to use.

Since this column will chronicle a short week, four days, there won’t be any two start pitchers, so the Two Start Options will not be running as normal this week. Instead, I will rank every starter who is projected to make a start in the opening days of games in the same way that I will do the Two Start Options.

One Start Sleepers are guys who are available in the majority of leagues and have a good matchup, have been on a roll, etc. Since everyone will get one or zero starts during this period, there is no need for One Start Sleepers due to me ranking every starter.
A player will be ranked given an amount of stars: 4 and 5 stars options are guys that I feel are must starts no matter the league size or format, 3 stars are guys that I feel are must starts unless you are in extremely shallow leagues, 2 stars are guys who I would lean against starting unless you are in a deep league or have no other options, and finally, 1 star guys should not be started under almost any scenario.
Five-Stars
Tim Lincecum – San Francisco Giants – @ LAD, THU
Clayton Kershaw – Los Angeles Dodgers – vs SFG, THU
Chris Carpenter – St. Louis Cardinals – vs SD, THU
Jered Weaver – Los Angeles Angels – @ KC, THU
Roy Halladay – Philadelphia Phillies – vs HOU, FRI
Ubaldo Jimenez – Colorado Rockies – vs ARI, FRI
David Price – Tampa Bay Rays – vs BAL, FRI
Dan Haren – Los Angeles Angels – @ KC, FRI
Felix Hernandez – Seattle Mariners – @ OAK, FRI
Josh Johnson – Florida Marlins – vs NYM, FRI
Tommy Hanson – Atlanta Braves – @WAS, SAT
Matt Cain – San Francisco Giants – @ LAD, SAT
Cliff Lee – Philadelphia Phillies – vs HOU, SAT
Roy Oswalt – Philadelphia Phillies – vs HOU, SUN

Scheduling Notes:
It is unknown at the time of the writing of this article as to who will start for Baltimore on Sunday. It sounds like it is going to be Chris Tillman, but Brad Bergesen is also a possibility. Either of them could fall into the two stars, but would more likely be a one star option pitching at Tampa Bay.